James Brown was one of the 20th century’s most important entertainers, influencing such luminaries as Michael Jackson, Prince and Mick Jagger.

It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that it was Jagger who produced Get on Up, the first feature film chronicling the life and times of the Godfather of Soul, who died on Christmas Day 2006.

Chadwick Boseman, who first came to prominence last year in the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, headlines his second straight biographic feature film.

Tony-winner Viola Davis portrays Brown’s absentee mother and Dan Aykroyd is Brown’s business manager Ben Bart. Tate Taylor, best known for directing the 2011 period drama The Help, helms the film, which premiered last week at Harlem’s iconic Apollo Theater.

Jagger said producer Brian Grazer first approached him with the idea of a film on the life of the Brown, who played a central role in the evolution of soul, funk and hip-hop.

"(Glazer) said … ‘Would you like to produce a James Brown documentary?" Jagger told reporters at the Apollo. "I said … ‘It sounds great, but let me just think about it overnight. I woke up in the morning, called him and I said, ‘Why don’t we do a James Brown feature?’ "

Jagger managed to obtain the rights to Brown’s massive music catalogue, a crucial step in convincing Hollywood to back the project.

"In the end Universal signed off on the deal, Brian and I partnered up and that’s how we got started."

Get on Up, named after James’ signature 1970 funk song, is sweeping in scope.

The film includes scenes from his childhood and youth in South Carolinian poverty, his adolescence that included a stint in a youth jail, and his start as a gospel singer who morphed into a charismatic R & B artist.

"We cover all these moments," said Jagger. "Near the beginning of the movie we see him later on in life when he’s not the number one person anymore but he’s still doing it, so we do cover an awful lot of his life."

Jagger said it was a no-brainer to give the lead role to 32-year-old Chadwick Boseman, known mostly for television roles prior to the Jackie Robinson film.

"He had some of the charisma, I felt, that James had and he could project that on the screen," said Jagger. "He’s got really good acting chops because … of course you’ve got to be able to make it believable, sing dance, do the splits, but … it’s also quite a lot of subtleties in the acting … I think that Chad was an excellent, fantastic choice."

It’s fitting that Get on Up premiered at the Apollo. Jagger first met Brown at the Harlem landmark in 1964.

"I was 21," Jagger recalled. "It was an afternoon, I sat very quietly on the balcony; the room wasn’t full. At the time, there wasn’t just one concert, there were four or five a day and the room filled up gradually as the day wore on, and at the last concert, it was packed. So there I was, the fans came to the balcony to smoke joints, which shocked me at the time because I had never seen anyone smoke joints so openly in a theatre," he said, laughing.

Get on Up hits theatres across Canada on August 1.

Four things you didn’t know about Get on Up

Bringing the life of a revered personality to the big screen isn’t an easy task. Here’s how the production team approached the project in order to avoid pitfalls.

Director Tate Taylor greatly appreciated the fact that the screenplay is not linear. "It gave me the freedom to move from one year to the next (or) to go back in time," he said.

Keith Jenkins, a guitarist for James Brown from 1994 to 2006, was a technical adviser and played himself onscreen.

Chadwick Boseman bore such a resemblance to James Brown once he was made up and in costume that everyone on set addressed the actor as "Mr. Brown."

Ottawa-born actor-comedian Dan Aykroyd, who plays Brown’s manager Ben Bart, was friends with the real James Brown. They appeared together in three films, The Blues Brothers (1980), Doctor Detroit (1983) and Blues Brothers 2000 (1998). As a teenager, Aykroyd once saw James Brown perform on stage during a show at Montreal’s Esquire Show Bar.

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